Personal Finances: The Energetics Behind Making Money Fun

I’m not a finance person but I LOVE running my business. I like interacting with my team, showing up for work, and creating strategies and plans. Like all of us, I like earning money, too.

Unfortunately, talking about the relationship between money and business, and money and life, seems to be almost taboo. I find that strange, as money is a necessity in this world. And let’s be real. Whether or not you work for yourself or someone else, the reason for business is to achieve a purpose while making money.

Personally, I’ve found that money comes easier, and with far less stress, if I consider the act as fun. Energetically, I believe that approach takes the negative projections off the process and enables money to equate with joy.

I was fortunate to develop at least some of this attitude when I was a child. Ironically, I think I decided to allow money-making to be a pleasure because I was defiant. Quite simply, I didn’t want to turn out like my parents.

My parents were terrified about money, and for a logical reason. They were Depression Era babies. My dad spent the first decade of his life sleeping in a cot in a kitchen. His father (Einar) had lost a mechanic shop and started drinking all the time. My grandmother Nellie paid the bills by washing laundry for others in the kitchen sink.

My dad contributed by delivering newspapers from age ten onward. My aunt married at sixteen, partially because she was in love, but also to reduce the household needs by one mouthful (at least, that’s my suspicion).

When I was growing up, money was a constant source of stress and trauma. My dad used to sit at his desk and sigh over the checkbook. He’d scribble down a bunch of numbers, erase them, and start all over again. My mom scraped by and then bought indulgences, like her Red Owl “china”. Red Owl was the local grocery story. She treated herself to alcohol a lot, too.

As for me, I was the “hoarder.” I saved every penny of the 25 cents a week that I earned doing chores in a green hippopotamus “piggy bank”. Every so often, I would pour out the change and count it. I liked the clank of the coins and would imagine how I would use it to travel the world when I was older.

I also wrote and put on plays for our neighborhood. I would charge a dime to people to come. My mother would get angry at me for “making money” off our friends. I was like, “Hey, I’m working hard!”

People constantly confide in me that they are afraid of money: what it is, what it isn’t, what might happen if they don’t have enough, or how they would be treated if they had too much. I understand not having enough. I have been independent financially since I was 18. I paid for my own college by waitressing. I ate nothing for years but restaurant salads, because they were free, and drove a car that cost me 100 dollars.

I was often scared, but for some reason, the attitude that “money can be fun” sustained me. It also got me through stretching every dollar as a single mother with no child support. I just tried to make the act of using the money we did have as fun as possible. In fact, I would play a “wishing game” with my kids. Once, my oldest wanted a television. I couldn’t afford a new one. So, I said, “Let’s see how we can find one that we can afford.” We spent ten dollars on a black and white television at a garage sale. He loved it.

Literally, I raised this same son on Beef and Broccoli take-out for dinner for months because it was inexpensive and a fully formed food group. We’d eat at a coffee table because I didn’t have a real kitchen table. SWe pretended we were eating in Japan, where they “get” to eat on the floor.

I no longer carry the attitude of “money can be fun” only out of defiance. I now cultivate this idea and remind myself of it. Toward that end, I’m offering this short exercise that might help you do the same.

Take a few deep breaths and focus on your mother. Sink into your sense of her psyche and then ask…What were her positive attitudes and practices about money?

That’s right. Don’t focus on the negative, only the positive. How can these ideas amend your ideas about money and money making? Make the art and act more enjoyable?

Next, focus on your father. Deliberately push away his monetary hardships. What joys did finances bring him? What were his positive ideas and ideals about money? Decide you want to keep these concepts and release the rest.

As you activate the joyful and loving approaches to money, decide that for a week, you want to embrace the same ideas for yourself. Perceive the happiness and satisfaction of money making, money owning, money spending, and even monetary donating to those who need assistance. Build for yourself your own belief system and let it be nourishing.

I’d love for you to try this and hear what you discover! 

Blessings,
Cyndi

P.S. If money has been feeling harder than it needs to, or you're wondering why your business isn't growing the way you know it could, I'd love to invite you to Bohemian Marketing. We are starting week two tomorrow, but it's not too late to join. One of our favorite weeks is next week, focused on your prosperity! We'd love to have you join us. Learn more here!